


Something Human

by AyraBelle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Missing Moments, a look at keith and lance's relationship in moments, i didn't want to go through parts that feature in the show as heavily, no beta we die like meb, seasons 6 and 7, so some moments are less fleshed out than others
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 04:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16674484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyraBelle/pseuds/AyraBelle
Summary: Lance after: yes definitely the best way to cut me off 10/10 would ramble againTitle and italicized lyrics fromSomething Human by Muse. I heard the song and my brain said 'Keith! And Lance!'Also Keith's reaction to Atlas was mine. Word for word.I has atumblr.





	Something Human

> _My circuits have blown – I know it's self-imposed  
>  And all I have shared, and all I have loved, is all I'll ever own_

Keith sat on his bed, unsure how to feel. He could barely believe that he was here, much less that Shiro was gone. He had spent two whole years on that space whale, only to have everything change in such a short time.

He had flown Black, they had formed Voltron even. Yet Keith couldn’t help but feel out of place here. Even before his time in the Abyss with his moth– with Krolia. The Blade had a very different set of priorities than Voltron, and then two years with only Krolia and his pet wolf for company. The paladins and Coran – they had been working together this whole time. They didn’t have a place for him anymore – and while no one said it, he knew it was true. They would all talk amongst each other during meals and only looked to him when they needed a tie breaker in arguments. He started to avoid the group as much as he could so that they didn’t have to worry about avoiding him.

Keith fell into a routine easily enough. He woke up early to do some training, and then went to the kitchen to grab himself some food before the others were up. He stayed there until midmorning and made his escape before the paladins entered to do their own training. From there he retreated to his room to shower and change before reading until late in the empty room that he discovered many levels away from the main areas of the castle. After a fitful three hours of trying to sleep and failing, he woke up and started it all over again.

Krolia asked if he was feeling okay one morning, and Keith just nodded before continuing on his way to the training deck.

He was fine. He was _fine_.

> _But something has changed, I feel so alive  
>  My life just blew up, I'd give it all up – I'll depressurize_

Keith had his routine. Until, suddenly, he didn’t.

The first thing to happen was Lance. Keith didn’t know when it happened, but Lance learned Ketih’s routine and started joining him in the early training. The first few days he waited warily for the comments and the weird animosity to start back up, but it never did. Lance greeted him with a smile and a nod before stretching and warming up in silence. They went through simulations and fought the gladiator together – and they fought together well – and then they went their separate ways to get cleaned up afterwards. It was like that for a couple weeks, and then Lance discovered Keith’s reading room. One day, Keith entered to see Lance sprawled out on one of the other couches. Keith paused in the doorway, unsure whether he wanted to kick Lance out or just flee himself, but then Lance just looked up and greeted him with that same nod and smile before returning to whatever he was doing. It was still calm, it was still quiet. Even so, it was with no small amount of trepidation that Keith sat on his favorite couch to read – but Lance remained quiet the whole time, only saying a quick “Night, Keith,” as he left for the evening.

It was another couple weeks later when Lance realized just how late Keith stayed up. They were both reading when there was a thud from the other couch. Keith looked up to see that Lance had fallen off and couldn’t swallow his laughter.

Lance stuck his tongue out. “Rude. I just saw what time it was and was surprised – we better get to bed.”

Keith shrugged. “Go ahead.”

“I said we – that includes you, Keithy boy. Time for sleep.”

“I don’t sleep,” Keith told him, returning to his book only to have it snatched out of his hands. “Hey!”

“What do you mean you don’t sleep?” Lance asked, incredulous. “You have to – everyone needs sleep.”

“Well I’ve been doing just fine since I came back to the castle,” Keith refuted, reaching for his book.

“You haven’t been sleeping for that long?” Lance deftly avoided Keith’s grasp, looking outraged. “What the hell, Keith!”

“I’ve tried – I can’t do it,” Keith explained, getting up and getting ready to lunge for his book back. “You try sleeping with the shitty dreams I’ve been having.”

Lance didn’t fight it when Keith grabbed his book back, but when he looked at Lance’s face it didn’t look annoyed. He looked… sad. Keith frowned. “What?”

Lance shook his head. “Nothing, I just… nothing. Wait here.”

He dashed out of the room and Keith just stared after him in utter confusion.

Lance returned surprisingly quickly with blankets and pillows. “Here,” he said, shoving some at Keith. “I grabbed those from your room. Get comfy.”

Keith just sat there. “What?”

“Get comfy. We’re having a sleepover down here – and when you have a bad dream I can remind you that it’s not real.”

That was… surprisingly thoughtful. Keith looked down at the blankets and then up at Lance. “Oh. Thanks.”

“No problem!” Lance grinned. “Now get comfy – that doesn’t look like a position that would be at all comfortable to sleep.”

It was the best night of sleep he’d had in a remarkably long time, and it became a new routine. Training every morning and sleeping (actually sleeping!) every night. But then, Keith couldn’t train every morning on the castle because there was no castle anymore. They were all quiet as they flew away from the blast.

Keith wished that he could say something, but he had no idea what.

> _Oh ten thousand miles left on the road  
>  Oh five hundred hours 'till I am home_

“So what do they feed you at the Blade base?”

Keith looked up from his meal, startled. “What?”

Pidge frowned at him. “What did they feed you while you were gone? Because it’s only been like a few months and now you’re taller and whatever.”

“It was just normal food,” Keith replied before the rest of her statement processed. “Wait – what?”

“You’re taller?” Hunk said. They’d gained the attention of the rest of the group now – only Krolia and Romelle weren’t there as they hunted. “Like not by much, but it is noticeable.”

“A few months?”

Allura looked worried. “Yes, a few months ago you looked different. When you were still with us, that is.”

“That’s all it’s been?” Keith whispered, looking down. He could feel the stares of everyone on him and he suddenly needed to get away from them all. “Thanks for dinner, Hunk, but I’m not hungry.” He barely held himself back from running all the way to the Black Lion.

Once inside the cockpit, Keith curled up in the pilot’s chair. Two years he had been on that whale, two whole years! But apparently it’s only been two months for everyone else. He thought that they all had to move on without him over time – turned out it didn’t take that long at all.

He had assumed that Shiro would be the one they sent after him. Instead, Lance appeared. He poked at the control panel for a moment before pulling himself up to sit on it. “So, two years?”

Keith huffed, looking down. “Krolia told you.”

“Yeah, she did. And I gotta say, that’s kinda impressive – two years is a long time to keep track of without a calendar or anything. Did you mark the days on a wall like you were in prison?”

Despite himself, Keith smiled and looked up to see Lance’s grin. “Hell no – the cave didn’t have that much space. Krolia’s suit had a computer with a calendar thing.”

Lance nodded. “That would make it much easier.”

They lapsed into silence for a while – Keith was unsure what to say and Lance seemed like he was trying to gather his thoughts. Keith waited.

“We didn’t move on from you or anything,” Lance said shyly. Keith could only stare – how had he known? “We just had to keep going and doing our thing. We wanted you back.”

Keith looked down again. “Yeah, right. I remember the day I left – you all looked at me like you hated me. Then I said I was leaving and no one tried to stop me. You did fine without me. You don’t need me–”

“Are you being serious? Did you see how quickly we were able to fly and form Voltron once you were back?”

“That’s just because I’d done it before.”

“That’s not it! I really need you to get this through your head because I don’t want have to watch you try to sacrifice yourself again!”

Keith, retort forgotten, gaped at Lance. “How–?”

Lance scowled. “Matt told Pidge and Pidge told me. It was already my fault that you left and then that Shiro clone wouldn’t listen when I said that we needed to get away from the planet so it was just all my fault.”

“How do you figure that? Did you set off the bomb? Did you kick me out?”

“Well, no, but–”

“Then it wasn’t your fault. You can’t blame yourself for things that go wrong out here – you’ll never get rid of the guilt.”

Keith had no idea when this had turned from Lance comforting Keith into Keith comforting Lance, but they were both smiling and that felt like enough.

> _I need something human, human  
>  Human, human_

“I just don’t want to be stuck here with him for all eternity.”

Keith could have smacked himself. That didn’t come out right at all! The simplest answer was that Lance had a family on Earth and Keith didn’t want him stuck here for all eternity. But then Lance had been so complimentary of Keith and Keith panicked.

Once they were back in their lions, Keith only half-listened to Coran’s explanation of what they had just been through. He could hear the strain in Lance’s voice and cringed. Could no one else hear that Lance wasn’t alright? He resolved to stop early and picked a nearby uninhabited planet to rest on. Lance was quiet through dinner and excused himself early. Keith fidgeted though the time that he made himself stay before leaving as well.

Lance was sitting off by himself and didn’t turn when Keith approached.

“You know you’re not the dumb one, right?”

Lance looked up, startled. Keith didn’t let him speak.

“You’re not dumb – you’re really smart and a great guy and you have a family so I didn’t want you to have to stay there but it didn’t come out right and then he kept calling you stupid and you’re not you’re the best right hand I could have ever asked for and I don’t want you to think that you don’t belong here–”

Lance’s giggle cut off Keith’s rambling. “Never would have pegged you for a nervous talker.”

Keith frowned and was about to turn back when Lance reached out to grab his shoulder with a shy smile.

“Thanks, though. I really appreciate it.”

> _Let's face all our fears, come out of the shade  
>  Let's burn all the money, absolve all the lies and wake up unscathed_

They hadn’t had to deal with healing themselves the normal way in a long while, so when Lance got hurt and they managed to find a space hospital no one knew what to do while they were waiting. Pidge fiddled with something electronic she had found, Hunk tried to fidget with what Pidge was fidgeting with, Allura talked in low tones with Shiro and Coran, and Keith paced.

The pacing meant that he was closest to the door when the doctor reappeared and called all of them to attention.

“He has just woken up – you may see him now.”

They all crowded into Lance’s hospital room – the others clamouring over themselves to make sure that Lance was alright and Keith ended up closest to his head. Which meant that he heard Lance’s soft observation.

“Huh, I guess you all were worried.”

Keith blinked at him, confused by the shock in Lance’s tone. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

Lance shrugged. “No one was this worried when I died.”

Keith’s brain froze, focused on one word. “Died?”

Lance nodded, nonchalant. “Yeah. Allura was able to bring me back to life – obviously. But it happened.”

Before Keith could figure out how he should respond to that, Hunk appeared and claimed Lance’s attention. Keith backed away, trying to digest what he had just learned.

They were back in their lions and in space when Coran made a comment about how they were off schedule. Hunk placed the blame for their delay directly on Lance and Keith glowered.

“Hey – it’s not like I died,” Lance tried to joke, his smile thin and eyes sad.

Keith’s mood had been growing darker and darker as the teasing happened and he heard Lance’s spirits failing, so he couldn’t help but interject. “Yeah, because you know what that feels like.”

The conversation stuttered to a halt, silence crackling through the coms. “Uh, what are you talking about, Keith?” Hunk was the first to ask.

Keith could practically feel Lance’s uneasiness and spoke up before he could try and deflect. “Lance died. None of you even realized. And you’ve all been treating him like shit.”

“We… what?” Allura sounded more confused than aghast – his words must not have sunken in.

“You’re the one that saved him, Allura! You didn’t tell anyone that he was hurt and made him deal on his own? No one noticed something was wrong? I’ve apparently only been gone for a few months but I could immediately tell that he wasn’t alright! Apparently you’ve just been laughing at his expense for months and not actually paid attention to the hell that your actions have caused. He was surprised that we all cared enough to be there when he woke up!” Keith paused for breath and hoped that there was some guilt and realization in the silence this time. “Some team. I want to be on my own for a while – let me know if anything comes up.”

Before anyone could respond, Keith cut off his coms from all the lions but Red. Thank goodness Shiro was with Pidge in Green – he was serious when he said that he didn’t want to have to deal with anyone right now.

Because he left the coms open to Red, he could hear Lance talking and it did sound like the others were apologizing. Good. They didn’t hail him and he let them all talk without his interference.

After a while the conversation seemed to die down and Lance’s voice sounded in Keith’s ear. “Thanks, Keith.” He sounded more like himself than he had in a long time.

> _The big picture is gone – replaced with visions of you  
>  Now life can begin, I've cleansed all my sins, I'm about to break through_

None of them had expected the Galra to beat them home.

Keith looked out at the wreckage of the planet and wondered what the others were feeling. He didn’t have much here for him, but they all still had families. Friends, probably.

He looked at Shiro, who looked nervous. He wasn’t sure about the rest of the group, but Shiro had a significant other that was left behind. Keith hoped that Adam was still there – he missed the guy as well.

The flight from Saturn was a quiet one. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts about what they were coming home to – Keith alone didn’t seem worried for anyone on the ground.

Lance in particular was subdued, and Keith hated to see that. He should be cheering them all up, not looking so down himself.

Lance was sitting at the back, away from the others, and barely glanced at Keith when he joined. “If… if they’re anything like you,” Keith started, not sure where he was going. “They’re fine. Probably thriving, even. You’re the most resilient person I know and you didn’t get that all on your own.”

He wasn’t sure what he was even saying, but it seemed to work – Lance had a small smile. “Thanks, Keith.”

Before Keith could leave, Lance tilted his head to lean on Keith’s shoulder. Keith couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the closeness, so he didn’t move and they watched the planets go by together.

> _Oh five thousand miles left on the road  
>  Oh two hundred hours 'till I am home_

The ship transformed. Because of course it did.

“Sam Holt, what the fuck did you build?” Keith asked rhetorically.

Pidge cackled and Keith could hear the laughter in Lance’s voice. “He’s just following in Alfor’s footsteps – building something without knowing what he would end up with.”

Keith supposed he couldn’t argue that point.

They defeated this newest robeast, but it was going to explode. Keith knew what needed to happen, and he couldn’t have been more proud of his team when they all agreed to the plan without hesitation or any selfish concern.

They did it – Earth was safe – but they only had a moment to celebrate before they were falling.

Keith’s last thought was that he would never get to kiss Lance after all.

> _I need something human, human  
>  Human, human_

When Keith opened his eyes he was greeted by the sterile ceiling of a hospital room.

It only took a small eye movement to see Krolia and Kolivan waiting for him, and he couldn’t help but smile. It was nice that they were there for him.

But, if he was being honest, they weren’t who he wanted to see.

It seemed that they understood – after just a few minutes they helped him to a common room just down the hall and left him alone. He wasn’t alone for long – Hunk’s family fropped him off, then Pidge’s family left her with them, and then Allura was helped into the room by Coran and Romelle. They were all glad to see that the others were alive – glad that they had all made it through and saved their planet.

But, as much as he liked Pidge and Hunk and Allura, they weren’t who he wanted to spend time with either.

Finally, Lance walked in. He had his arm around his sister’s shoulders but he brightened when he saw them all in the room already. “Aw, you guys were throwing a ‘We Lived’ party without me?”

Keith grinned. “We were just getting ready – the party couldn’t start without you.”

Lance’s answering smile was blinding.

> _And I need the touch  
>  Of something human, human_

Through the months that it took to rebuild the absolute necessities Lance was floating on Cloud Nine. Keith smiled – it was good to see him so happy. Even if it meant that he was spending less time with the team and more with his family, Keith couldn’t begrudge him that. He would have given almost anything to get to see his dad or Adam again.

Krolia was gone. She and Kolivan had left to help other planets get rid of the Galra remnants that were still out there.

Shiro was busy with the Garrison. They needed to get some sort of governing system in place now that the planet was freed and Shiro was the perfect figurehead.

The other paladins were reuniting with their families. They were all excited about the possibility of going home again.

Keith was alone. Again. He was fine.

He spent most of his time pilfering food from the kitchens and then sitting with it outside. The two things he missed the most about Earth were the food and the outdoors, so when he was alone he decided to indulge in a little bit of both.

He was sitting on the roof with some peanut butter and crackers when Lance’s voice cut through his concentration on his book.

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that we’re heading to the airport.”

Keith nodded, looking back down at his book. “Thanks. Have fun.”

“Are you not going?”

Keith looked up, confusion likely plain on his face. “Where would I be going?”

Lance was working himself into some sort of mood, and Keith had no idea what was going on. “Home! To see family! What kind of question is that?”

Keith just shrugged. “A perfectly valid one – Krolia left, so where would I go on Earth?”

Lance’s mouth dropped open. “You – you don’t have anyone do you?”

Keith tilted his head. “You didn’t know that?”

Lance shook his head, looking distracted. “No – I never knew. You never said.” The distracted look gave way to a determined one. “Alright, you better go pack – we finally got the munchkins rallied so we’re going to need to get going soon if we don’t want to be delayed by having to get them all together again.”

Keith didn’t move. “I don’t want to keep you then – have a good time.”

“You’re coming with me.”

The cracker that Keith had been raising to his mouth fell out of his hand. “I’m what?”

“You’re coming with me,” Lance repeated, marching over and dragging Keith to his feet. “I’ll grab you some more peanut butter from the kitchen – go get anything you want to bring with you from your room.”

He started pulling Keith to the door, and only once the door was opened did Keith find his voice. Stopping, he tried to pull his hand out of Lance’s. “I can’t come with you – it’s your family. I would just be intruding on you all.”

Lance shook his head. “So you’d rather stay here by yourself? Don’t think I haven’t seen how lonely you’ve been lately.”

“But why would you invite me along?”

“You’re my friend, Keith.” Lance looked into Keith’s eyes and Keith felt his crush flare up again at the intensity of the blue stare. “I want you to meet my family and experience some calm for once in your confusing life. I want you–” Lance cut himself off, huffing. “I just want you to be happy and I think that spending some time away from the Garrison and Voltron and everything will help.”

Keith could only stare – the desire to kiss Lance had never been so strong. He didn’t realize that anyone had noticed him lately; he had assumed they’d all been too busy. But Lance had noticed – and now Lance was offering Keith a chance to get away from it all. He felt himself smiling as he nodded and let Lance lead the way back inside.

They ended up having to re-corral the young nieces and nephews, but the smiles on everyone’s faces and the warmth Keith felt when he was welcomed were worth it.

> _Oh less than a mile left on the road  
>  Oh I will be crawling through your door_

Keith wasn’t sure what they were driving to, but Lance’s family seemed oddly nonchalant about the prospect of their home being gone.

“We’ll just rebuild – we always wanted to change out that bathroom anyways.”

They spent much more of the drive questioning Keith – wanting to know more about him and his life. Keith wasn’t used to it, but it was… honestly pretty nice. They laughed then a story called for it, sympathised when others were sad. Keith understood why Lance loved his family so much – they were really great people.

When they got to Lance’s hometown, it was still fairly intact. His house, however, wasn’t. Keith was expecting the oddly calm attitudes to go away at this sight, but Lance’s mom and dad just started walking around the property and planning what they were going to build. Keith looked to Lance, who must have seen the surprise.

Lance shrugged. “The place has never mattered much to my family – it’s the people that matter. We’re all safe, who cares about the house?”

To someone like Keith, who had never had a constant home to call his own, that sentiment was foreign. But he thought of Krolia and his Voltron team and he thought that he might be starting to understand.

The weeks were filled with work. Keith helped Lance’s family clear out their land and start rebuilding – and then more people came to do the same and the work efforts slowly grew until the entire town was being worked on. Keith helped wherever he was needed – he didn’t know much about building a town but he knew how to follow directions. Everyone lived in a small settlement of tents as the work was being done – and they all bonded. Even Keith, who hadn’t known most of these people even a few months ago, felt right at home.

One night Lance came to ask Keith to take a walk, and Keith agreed. Lance led them out of their small settlement and to a beach where they both took off their shoes and enjoyed the feeling of the sand. It was quiet between them – and Lance seemed to be thinking hard.

“Why are we out here?” Keith asked. Not that it wasn’t a nice night, but Keith assumed that Lance would want to spend as much time with his family as he could before Voltron was needed again and that called them away.

Lance snorted. “Mamá told me to get my act together and just talk to you. I figured this was a nicer location than the tents.”

“What do you need to talk to me about?” Keith asked, impressed by his mask of calm. Internally he was panicking. Was his crush tat obvious that even Lance’s mom knew and Lance had to set things straight? Was Lance about to tell him that they didn’t actually want him around? He was having such a nice time – it was great to feel so welcome and wanted.

“The thing is, I really like you and would like to date you. If you would be willing.”

> _I need something human, human  
>  Human, human_

Keith could only stare at Lance. Had he actually said that, or was Keith dreaming?

When he didn’t respond for a moment, Lance started fidgeting. “I mean, you don’t have to feel the same – I just thought you should know, and my family loves you aside from my crush and would be willing to let you come over all the time but if me liking you means you’d be uncomfortable then no big deal but you deserve a family I mean like you have Krolia and the Blade and whatever but they’re gone and we’re here so I want to make sure that you know you’re not alone–”

Keith knew that he wasn't dreaming - his subconscious couldn't come up with a ramble like that. His higher functions cut out for a moment and he didn’t think there was any better way to get Lance to stop rambling than to just lean in and kiss him.

Judging by how Lance leaned in to kiss him back he agreed.

> _And I need your love  
>  And something human, human_

**Author's Note:**

> Lance after: yes definitely the best way to cut me off 10/10 would ramble again
> 
> Title and italicized lyrics from [Something Human by Muse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfnQ-lh2PTg). I heard the song and my brain said 'Keith! And Lance!' 
> 
> Also Keith's reaction to Atlas was mine. Word for word.
> 
> I has a [tumblr](http://ayrabelle.tumblr.com/).


End file.
